The U.S. Supreme Court took up the issue of same-sex marriage Friday, agreeing to decide whether gays and lesbians can wed in California and whether the federal government can deny benefits to married same-sex couples.

After weeks of indecision, the justices granted hearings to supporters of California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, and the 1996 federal law known as the Defense of Marriage Act. It withholds federal recognition and spousal benefits, including joint tax filing and Social Security survivor payments, to more than 100,000 same-sex couples who married under their state's laws.

The cases will be argued early next year, with rulings due by the end of June. It's not clear, however, whether the court will decide the broader question of whether the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws gives gays and lesbians equal marriage rights in all states.

That question was not addressed by the federal appeals courts that declared both Prop. 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

Prop. 8, approved by 52 percent of the voters in November 2008, amended the California Constitution to overturn a May 2008 ruling by the state Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage.

In February, the Ninth US. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Prop. 8 had violated the U.S. Constitution by withdrawing rights from a historically protected minority for no apparent reason other than moral disapproval of homosexuality.